Raise the Bar...Here's your Sign!

2 Minute ReadIn our line of work, we tend to get calls from all kinds of managers. Managers who are frustrated with their teams. Managers who want their employees to have extensive leadership training because they just aren’t ‘getting it.’  These managers say “Jump” expecting their employees to respond in harmony with “How high?” Instead, the only response they get is their people looking at them with a look of bewilderment. These employees are thinking, “Yep – I knew he had a screw loose…”Looks like it’s time to tighten your screws. Consider this your sign. Before you can expect the employees in your organization to change, you have to improve yourself. It’s not until you raise the bar for yourself that you can expect to see a difference in your employees. Take a look at the three roles of management, as defined by Henry Mintzberg (1973).Managers do many things. And they usually depend on the size or structure of the organization. In fact, they delegate. Gather information. Communicate. Negotiate. Initiate change. You name it, they do it.

Mintzberg has taken all those tasks and grouped them into three categories.

• Interpersonal Roles: Performing the duties as the head of the organization, fostering the work atmosphere and culture, motivating and developing employees, and maintaining a network of external contacts.
• Informational Roles: Gathering internal and external information as it applies to your organization, transmitting information of value to employees, and communicating with those outside your organization regarding policies and performance.
• Decisional Roles: Designing and initiating change in the company, dealing with the unexpected, controlling organizational resources, and participating in negotiations with other organizations.

Are you performing to 100% of your capabilities? Are you lacking in one or more of these three areas? I think it’s time to raise the bar and make an exceptional manager out of you. Become the leader that others want to follow. Until you model the qualities you’re looking for, it’s likely that you’re going to be chasing your tail; you’re going to be that person in the company that everybody ‘puts up’ with because you’re off your rocker and nobody wants to tell you. As Bill Engvall would say, “Here’s your sign…” It’s time to step up and lead. Raise the bar. Maybe then you might get a different response when you say “Jump.”Mintzberg - Roles of Management